Gaza City - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Israeli troops exit Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, leaving rubble and bodies

ISRAELI forces left Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation by special forces who detained hundreds of suspected Palestinian militants and left a wasteland of destroyed buildings. With access to Gaza's biggest hospital severely restricted, the Israeli and Palestinian versions differed sharply. Palestinian officials called the raid on a hospital treating severely wounded patients a war crime, while Israeli officials said special forces units conducted a targeted strike against a Hamas stronghold deliberately located among vulnerable civilians. Thousands of Palestinians - 6,200 according to the Israeli military - had been sheltering in the complex, one of few…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Israeli military says troops captured hundreds of fighters in Gaza hospital

WORLD

ISRAELI forces have detained hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters including several security officials and military commanders during its extended raid into Gaza's main hospital, the military's main spokesperson said. Israeli troops entered the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the early hours of Monday morning and have been combing through the sprawling complex, which the military says is connected to a tunnel network used as a base for Palestinian fighters. It says troops have killed hundreds of fighters in the operation and also detained over 500 suspects, including 358 members of the Islamist militant groups Hamas and…

Mar

2024

By RILEY SPARKS, HAJAR HARB and OMAR NABIL ABDEL HAMID

In northern Gaza, Palestinians eat grass to survive Israeli siege and food shortages

WORLD

ON 29 February, the killing of more than 100 people waiting for food aid in Gaza City put a spotlight on the extreme deprivation and violence facing those who have remained in the north of the enclave during Israel’s nearly five-month-long military campaign and siege. Israeli authorities acknowledged that troops shot some people in the crowd that gathered on a coastal road to receive aid from a rare delivery to the north, but claimed most of the casualties were caused by a stampede or were run over by the aid trucks. Witnesses and doctors treating the wounded, however, said many of the victims appeared to have…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

More than 100 killed while seeking aid in Gaza, overall death toll passes 30,000

WORLD

GAZA health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for aid delivery, but Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. At least 112 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said. The loss of civilian lives was the biggest in weeks. Hamas said the incident could jeopardise talks in Qatar aimed at securing a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages it is holding. When asked if he thought it would complicate the talks, U.S.…

Mar

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Dozens killed waiting for aid in Gaza, overall death toll passes 30,000

WORLD

GAZA health authorities said more than 100 Palestinians had been shot dead by Israeli forces as they waited for aid delivery, but Israel challenged the death toll and said many of the victims had been run over by aid trucks. At least 112 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said, as the death toll in nearly five months of war passed 30,000. Medics said they could not cope with the volume and severity of the injuries. Dozens were taken to Al-Shifa hospital, which is only partially operational after Israeli raids. The loss…

Dec

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and FADI SHANA

Israel suffers worst combat losses since October, diplomatic isolation

WORLD

ISRAEL announced its worst combat losses for more than a month after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza City and faced growing diplomatic isolation as civilian deaths mounted and a humanitarian catastrophe worsened. Intense fighting was underway in both north and south Gaza, a day after the United Nations demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. U.S. President Joe Biden said Israel's "indiscriminate" bombing of civilians was costing international support. Warplanes again bombed the length of Gaza and aid officials said the arrival of winter rain worsened conditions for hundreds of thousands sleeping rough in makeshift tents. The vast majority of Gaza's…

Dec

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, MOHAMMAD SALEM and HUMEYRA PAMUK

Hamas hands over two female hostages, others expected after truce extended

WORLD

HAMAS handed two female hostages to the Red Cross in Gaza City's central Palestine Square and further hostages are expected to be released later in the evening following a last-minute deal struck with Israel to extend a truce. Israel identified the freed hostages as 21-year-old Mia Schem, who was seized at a dance party along with many of the other hostages abducted into Gaza and 40-year-old Amit Soussana. Schem also holds French nationality. Footage aired on Aljazeera showed the women being taken out of a white vehicle surrounded by armed Hamas militants in Gaza City and met by Red Cross officials, amid…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israel-Hamas war: Palestinians dig mass grave inside Israeli-encircled Gaza hospital

WORLD

PALESTINIANS trapped inside Gaza's biggest hospital were digging a mass grave to bury patients who died under Israeli encirclement and said no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators. Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital which they say sits atop an underground headquarters of Hamas militants. Hamas, Gaza's ruling Islamist group, denies fighters are present and says 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from snipers and drones. It says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israel-Hamas war: Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital has tanks at its gates

WORLD

ISRAELI tanks took up positions at the gates of Gaza City's main hospital, the primary target in their battle to seize control of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, where medics said patients including newborns were dying for lack of fuel. Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra, who was inside Al Shifa hospital, said 32 patients had died in the past three days, including three newborn babies, as a result of the siege of the hospital and lack of power. At least 650 patients were still inside, desperate to be evacuated to another medical facility by the Red Cross or…

Nov

2023

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and MAYTAAL ANGEL

Thousands of civilians flee north Gaza as Israeli troops and Hamas fighters battle

WORLD

THOUSANDS of Palestinian civilians trudged in a forlorn procession out of the north of Gaza seeking refuge from Israeli air strikes and fierce ground fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants. The exodus took place in a four-hour window of opportunity announced by Israel, which has told residents to evacuate the north encircled by its armoured forces or risk being trapped in the violence. But the central and southern parts of the small, besieged Palestinian enclave also came under fire again as the war between its Islamist Hamas rulers and Israel entered its second month. Palestinian health officials said an air strike…